The Chief and his guest had by this time reached the house of
Glennaquoich, which consisted of Ian nan Chaistel's mansion, a high
rude-looking square tower, with the addition of a lofted house, that is,
a building of two stories, constructed by Fergus's grandfather when he
returned from that memorable expedition, well remembered by the western
shires under the name of the Highland Host. Upon occasion of this
crusade against the Ayrshire Whigs and Covenanters, the Vich Ian Vohr
of the time had probably been as successful as his predecessor was in
harrying Northumberland, and therefore left to his posterity a rival
edifice, as a monument of his magnificence.
Around the house, which stood on an eminence in the midst of a narrow
Highland valley, there appeared none of that attention to convenience,
far less to ornament and decoration, which usually surrounds a
gentleman's habitation. An enclosure or two, divided by dry-stone walls,
were the only part of the domain that was fenced; as to the rest,
the narrow slips of level ground which lay by the side of the brook
exhibited a scanty crop of barley, liable to constant depredations from
the herds of wild ponies and black cattle that grazed upon the adjacent
hills.
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